IN 29 DAYS
by ActionFantasyLuver
Summary: A short "What if ...?" fiction influenced by the DVD alternate endings of THE WOLFMAN presented on Blueray ...


**SPOILERS_: The Wolfman_ on DVD.**

(On the blue-ray version of _THE WOLFMAN_ there are alternate endings. While I did like the way the movie ended, and am pleased they did not use any of the alternate endings shown on the blue-ray, I found myself intrigued.

In these scenes we see where the werewolf did, indeed, attack Gwen at the end, biting her before she or anyone killed the wolfman.

I thought I'd take one of those scene and rewrite it a bit, expanding on it, and making it a small character piece.

Thanks and enjoy)

_**CODA: **_**THE WOLFMAN**_**: "In 29 Days**_

He heard them in the distance. The hounds. The men. The shouts.

He smelled them too; the salt of their delicious blood, the sweetness of their soft skin and the more acrid odor of their weapons, some freshly fired. It mingled with the odor of the torches. It excited him.

Yet, none of it was more powerful then _her_. The wriggling body beneath him. It was soft and firm yet pliable and his for the taking. He wanted her desperately … _Gwen_ … but the things she made him feel were confusing. The creature felt a familiarity and the knowing made him feel warmth. _He almost knew her …_not like a hunter knows its prey, the pleasure of the chase and the kill, but how a male animal might know its mate.

And in that moment it knew what it had to do.

He turned back to look at her, at her fear and the tears - and the weapon now pointed in his direction. She shook, her hands unsteady. A moment of weakness … She could not do it. Such a brave if foolish thing to do. A _small_ betrayal. And he could forgive her this because, even in the recesses of his beastly mind, the creature knew he would probably do the same if in her position.

_The monster attacked._

He launched himself at her, the flesh of her throat so pure and recently unravaged against his teeth. He tasted her perspiration with his laving tongue, made all the tastier by her fear and struggle. He could have finished her off right there, his fangs digging deep into her slender neck and shoulder - but he held back. Honestly, he did not want her dead. He wanted something more than his wolf-mind could readily understand.

Then he lapped at the thick fluid as it ran freely into his mouth. He could hear her pain-filled cries, feel her straining against him, her hands pushing at him, uselessly trying to break free. This too was exciting.

He was the true king of the forest. All did his bidding - or died.

He was _The Wolfman_.

When the shot came it exploded into his chest. He tasted silver. Somehow - someway - her grip on the gun strengthened and she pressed the trigger.

He pushed away, infuriated by treachery, then fell back. He could feel life draining from him … and a change … a deep change that made him want to fight for the bliss of the hunt, for the kill or be killed mind-set he so cherished as a beast. He was thinking emotionally but rationally … He was becoming a man. Nothing more than an oh so weak man … and he, the beast, was becoming extinct.

Lawrence Talbot carefully and gradually flipped over onto his back, his mind acknowledging that someone finally did it. He was dying.

"Oh thank you … thank you …." he whispered under his breath.

He then looked over, hearing her quick intake of breath. The anguish.

His eyes widened_._

_ Gwen._

_Oh no._

Agonized, physically and emotionally, he crawled over to her. Was she dead? Had he killed her? If he had - _Oh dear God, if anything ever happened to her he would never be able to forgive himself._

"Gwen." Lawrence saw the blood, the tears in her eyes, and the forlorn nearly accepting expression as she fell into shock. "I'm so sorry …"

She wasn't quite looking at him.

Lawrence took her hand even as he felt the life draining away. He held it in both of his and knew what agony she was in. He had been there too - "Please forgive me." he begged.

Then she looked at him through her pain and whispered, "Lawrence … I love …" but could say no more. However, her fingers tenderly squeezed his in acknowledgment.

_Forgiven._

It would come to Gwen much later that there was a reason she survived when so many others had been murdered before her. The monster was not after her death. She was not merely another trophy for the wolfman. He wanted her to be his mate. The animal part of Lawrence Talbot needed a companion as much as any man. Even monsters needed love, she thought miserably. Alive, as man and woman, they might have had something together. The beast had picked up on that, understood Lawrence's longing and that Gwen was receptive. And as werewolves they would have prowled the night together … she would be the mother of its children … _or pups_.

Gwen remembered hearing somewhere that wolves mated for life. It was sweet and horrifying all at the same time.

"Thank you." Lawrence exhaled one last breath then laid his head down. Both his hands still held her own.

He died.

Gwen wept for him.

Then she heard the dogs, louder now, and the snapping of branches as heavy feet stepped on them. "Someone get the doctor!"

She heard men's voices. Aberline's men. The Inspector had been wound too.

Gwen painfully lifted her head and watched him as he leaned weakly against a tree, taking in Lawrence's dead body and her injury. Their eyes met. Both knew their futures.

She watched him as he averted his gaze and looked up at the full moon.

_In twenty nine days ..._

Gwen heard a nearly mystical gypsy music in the distance.

Somewhere a wolf howled at the moon.

THE END

July 2011


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